He said it became clear to the investigators that Knowles wanted the person on the other end of the phone to get to the jail as soon as possible to recover some electronic devices he had been brought into custody with.

The sheriff said before anyone could pick up Knowles' laptop and other property, investigators spoke with him and gained consent to search his electronics, where they found personal information from thousands and thousands of people from all over the country.

"We've hit around 14,000 individual names and various pieces of identifying information tied to each of those individuals - including addresses, social security numbers and the like," Sheriff Rowe said.

The Lubbock County Sheriff's Office's criminal investigative division, its gang intelligence unit and the secret service are now working together on this expanding investigation.

"We still have more devices to go. This is going to take a significant amount of time," Sheriff Rowe said.

The sheriff said the discovery should come as no surprise to inmates who make phone calls from within the walls of the Lubbock County Detention Center.

"Both parties are given a warning every time they dial up. Where the call is coming from, that it is coming from the Lubbock County Detention Center in this case, and that the call may be recorded," Sheriff Rowe said.

"You would be amazed at some of the things I have heard over the years. Whether it is admission, guilt, where the money is," Sheriff Rowe said.

Or in this case, the electronic devices containing the personal information of at least 14,000 people.

"He's been somewhat cooperative with investigators at this point. He has provided us with some of the equipment he has been using, including credit card embossers," Sheriff Rowe said.

Knowles is currently sitting in the Lubbock County Detention Center awaiting additional charges.

(AP Photo/Jennifer Kay). Six crosses are placed at a makeshift memorial on the Florida International University campus in Miami on Saturday, March 17, 2018, near the scene of a pedestrian bridge collapse that killed at least six people on March 15.

A matter of seconds between those who would live and those who would die as Florida pedestrian bridge topples down highway bustling with passing vehicles.

A matter of seconds between those who would live and those who would die as Florida pedestrian bridge topples down highway bustling with passing vehicles.

(Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP). FBI agents work the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 18, 2018. At least a few people were injured in another explosion in Texas' capital late Sunday, after three package bombs detonat...

Officials reported that an explosion in southwest Austin injured two men in their 20s who were hospitalized with injuries that didn't appear to be life-threatening.

Officials reported that an explosion in southwest Austin injured two men in their 20s who were hospitalized with injuries that didn't appear to be life-threatening.

(Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a fatal stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Police have arrested a man in the multiple...

Police have arrested a man in the fatal stabbing of two men at a Salvation Army apartment building in downtown Rochester, Minnesota.

Police have arrested a man in the fatal stabbing of two men at a Salvation Army apartment building in downtown Rochester, Minnesota.